Inez Mary Robinson Cross

Inez Mary Robinson Cross, the daughter of George Alexander St. John Robinson and Lulu May Robinson, née Schnarr, was born in Belize, British Honduras, on June 23, 1945. Her life ended on July 9, 2025. She spent her early childhood in British Honduras and Bluefields, Nicaragua, before moving to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she attended McDonough No. 14 elementary school and Ecole Classique secondary school. Moving to Baton Rouge, she earned an undergraduate degree with a major in history at Louisiana State University and enjoyed two summers of Spanish study in Mexico. After teaching middle school for a year, she began work in the LSU Library and pursued a master’s degree in library science.

Upon completion of her MLIS, she moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to begin work at the University of South Carolina’s main library in the Serials Department. It was there where she met Joseph Russell Cross, Jr., whom she married in 197 3. Shortly thereafter, she was promoted to Assistant Head of Serials. After the birth of a second child, she took a break from full time employment for several years. During this period, she did part-time work as a librarian for the South Carolina Commission on Aging and completed additional graduate coursework. She later resumed full-time work at the South Carolina State Library as a cataloger, specializing in the cataloging of state documents. After more than four years, she began a twenty-one-year tenure as Head of Technical Services for the Edens Library at Columbia College. She was active in faculty governance and as a student advisor. While at Columbia College, she began serving as an adjunct professor in USC’s College of Library and Information Science. She continued this teaching after retiring from Columbia College while working part-time as a catalog librarian at USC’s Law Library.

Mary was a member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and served over the years as a Sunday school teacher, a member of several committees, and a stalwart altar guild member. Her altar guild service began at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans during her teen years and continued it at St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge.

She loved birds, flowers, and gardening. She sewed, knitted, smocked, and quilted. Quilt guild, quilt shows, quilt shops, quilt camps, and quilting friends became more important when she was fully retired from librarianship. Mary made lasting friends in her various professional jobs, in her volunteer work, and in her quilting activities.

Mary was predeceased by her parents and her brother, George Alexander St. John Robinson, Jr. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, their son, David Sebastian Cross (Sandi), their daughter, Sarah Harrington Cross, her brother’s three sons Paul, John, and Julian Robinson and their mother Julie Robinson. She also leaves many beloved cousins in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Belize. She will be deeply missed by her feline shadows Smoke E. Robinson and Pandemonium Robinson.

Her family would like to thank the staff in Prisma Health Richland’s MICU for the care she received and are especially grateful for her nurses, April and Matt.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm Wednesday, July 16 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with a reception following at Satterlee Hall.

Memorial gifts may be made to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and to Pawmetto Lifeline.

As she wished, her family will give her ashes to the Mississippi River, so that they will pass through New Orleans and into the Caribbean Sea, returning her home.